Even if the waters dont come

Battlefield Band played Sunday at the Cedar,
and they were excellent. Still the best musical
group around, for my tastes.

I saw Toots Thieleman at the Dakota tonight,
and it was more moving then the last time I
saw him, wonderfull.

Plain and simple, my tastes are changing from
the Blues Harp, that used to be so important.
Not that I still don't respect Little Walter
or Sonny Boy Williamson, or Sonny Terry, its just
that no one ever came along to replace them, and
I can't even listen to the shit they play on the XM
blues radio station- I listen to Classic Jazz, Irish,
Bluegrass, Battlefield Band (a great group) - at some
point you start to realize - I don't listen the Blues
anymore.

So it's like I don't listen to the blues, I'm not in a
blues band, I practice the Tin Whistle (Irish Folk
Musical Instrument) more than I do the Harp,
What keeps me going - the songwriting, the challenge
of coming up with a harp phrase that works with
a song you've written- but performing, its' tough,
especially if you're not a good singer (and I'm not),
and especially if you're as shy as I am. And then
there's the non-existant pay.

I wrote a play called "The Acts of Cain", and for several
years, I really poured my heart and soul into it, and
got something that I was really proud of, but I was
unable to market it, so I ultimately gave up the
playwriting , after writing "Nobody Cares"- a
play about a harmonica player. When I wrote this
play I realized that what I really wanted to do was
devote myself to playing Blues Harp, and I did,
and with this album, I've taken my song writing
and harmonica playing as far as my talent will take
me, but it is going to be a struggle to really get this
album completed, and my ability to market it
when I am done it just about nil, so if I spend
$3,000 on this CD, that money's pissed away.
That's a lot of money - I don't mind doing it,
in fact, you couldn't stop me from doing what
I can to get the best CD I can, (and it is a labor
of Love) but when its finally done, honestly,
I think it's time to move on -

(I want to go to Ireland and play the Tin Whistle
in a pub in the County Clare, which would be really
cool.)

But down to business. I trimmed down the song list
to (8) songs. I've been writing songs a long time,
and plain and simple -this is the best I got.

1. Make A Miracle Happen
2. Born To Make That Little Girl Dance
3. To Make You Believe
4. lightnin' (Surges)
5. Rain Falls Down (On A Freeman)
6. Talking 'bout Robert Johnson
7. An Ark In The Basement
8. Catfish Bones Solo

So that's the songs. I will be posting the Phase 1A Demo
CD with these songs by April 23rd, so you can listen to
what the general outline of these songs are - but I am
going to start doing some more serious arranging, and
looking at instrumentation for these tracks - I'm
far from done.

Later,

Catfish